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BWF World Championships 2018, Women's Singles Semifinals: PV Sindhu defeated world no. 2 Akane Yamaguchi in straight games to enter the World Championships finals where she will face Carolina Marin for the title.

PV Sindhu defeated Japan's Akane Yamaguchi in straight games to enter the finals of the World Championships 2018. In the match that lasted for 55 minutes Sindhu defeated the world number three Yamaguchi, 21-16, 24-22. After starting from behind, Sindhu gained her rhythm, and won the first game comfortably 21-16. In the second game, Yamaguchi kept a tidy lead from the start. At one stage, Sindhu was trailing 12-19 but displayed a brilliant play of badminton, leveling the scores with straight 8-points win. Sindhu will now face Carolina Marin on Sunday in the finals.

18:34 IST: Sindhu wins her first point of the match. Sindhu to serve now.Sindhu 1-5 Yamaguchi

18:34 IST: PV Sindhu id 0-4 down in the first game. At the moment she is struggling to find the rhythm.

18:32 IST: Yamaguchi wins the first point in the first game. Loose shot from Sindhu. Sindhu 0-1 Yamaguchi

18:32 IST: Akane Yamaguchi gets the match underway.

18:28 IST: PV Sindhu and Akane Yamaguchi have walked into the court. We are just minutes away from the start.

18:15 IST: In the first women's semi-final, Carolina Marin has defeated He Bingjiao 13-21, 21-16, 21-1 to enter the BWF Badminton World Championships finals.

17:59 IST: Carolina Marin takes the second game 21-16.

17:55 IST: He Bingjiao won the first game 21-15, The second game is inching to a tense finish as Carolina Marin is fighting back, leading by 19-16 at the moment, trying to take the match into the decider.

17:15 IST: Match between world no.3 PV Sindhu and world no.2 Akane Yamaguchi will begin after the first semi-final.

17:10 IST: The first women's semi-final between Carolina Marin and He Bingjiao is currently underway.

17:00 IST: Hello and welcome to the live blog of the BWF Badminton World Championships semi-final round.

Women's singles star P.V, Sindhu was the lone Indian to enter the semi-finals of the Badminton World Championships, with Saina Nehwal, B. Sai Praneeth and the mixed doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa losing in the quarter-finals here on Friday. Third seed Sindhu, facing Japanese Nozomi Okuhara, who defeated her at the previous edition's final, won 21-17, 21-19 in 58 minutes. In both games, Okuhara was strong at the beginning but once Sindhu caught up with her, the Japanese failed to control the Hyderabadi, who came into the match with a 6-5 record in head-to-head.

The highlight of the first game were the two cross-court returns from Sindhu that was well placed in the top left corner of Okuhara's side of the court. By the end of the first game, Sindhu looked in fine form. In the second game, Okuhara burst into a five-point lead as she led the Indian 5-0. The World No.3 tried getting back in the game with occasional points but Okuhara had other plans as they led Sindhu 11-8 at mid-break of the second game. After the break, Sindhu pulled her rank and drew level at 11-11.

It was at 15-14 when Sindhu, for the first time, took a lead in the second game but Okuhara pulled one back to draw level at 15-15. Thereafter, the second game was evenly poised as both the players were neck-and-neck throughout the remaining of the game. But it was the Indian who held her nerves and forced her Japanese opponent to make a few errors as she claimed the second game in style. With this win, she avenged her 2017 World Championships final loss.